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tate railway operator Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) enjoyed higher-than-expected revenues from ticket sales during the Idul Fitri holidays this year on the back of rising capacity and passenger growth.

The company saw a 14.4 percent increase year-on-year (yoy) in revenues to Rp 459 billion (US$35.03 million) during this year’s annual exodus, up from Rp 401 billion in the same period in 2015. The figure is higher than the company’s initial expectation of a 7 percent increase during the exodus.

KAI previously set June 26 to July 17 as the period of the exodus. KAI president director Edi Sukmoro said the number of passengers also exceeded its original expectation of 5.38 million. Its calculations showed that as many as 5.48 million people used its services, 5.8 percent higher than the 5.1 million passengers last year.

The rise in passengers translated into 223,462 available seats during the period this year from 214,048 available seats in 2015.

Edi attributed the growth in passenger numbers to increased capacity with an additional economy class train leaving from Pasar Senen, Jakarta, to Kutoarjo, Yogyakarta. The train can carry 800 passengers per trip.

At first, the company only planned to utilize four additional executive class trains during the Idul Fitri holidays. The trains were made by state train manufacturer PT INKA.

KAI commercial director Bambang Eko Martono said that the revenues from the long holidays — when dozens of millions of Indonesians flocked their hometowns — already contributed 9 percent to its total revenues so far this year.

“Our target is to increase by 10 percent from Rp 13 trillion last year,” he said. In terms of profits, KAI has set a more ambitious target of a 20 percent jump from around Rp 1.13 trillion in 2015.

KAI is optimistic that it will be able to achieve the targets, as they are supported by its expansion plans. It has ordered 10 trains for this year, consisting of five executive class trains and five economy class trains, from PT INKA.

“We want to replace all of our business class trains over time,” Bambang said.

KAI only has several business class trains at present, including the Senja Utama train connecting Jakarta and Surakarta in Central Java, the Fajar Utama train connecting Jakarta to Yogyakarta and the Mutiara Selatan train connecting Surabaya in East Java to Bandung in West Java.

The company will also gradually replace 800 trains that have been in operation for more than 30 years. The replacement process will be carried out within three years, with KAI replacing 140 trains in 2016.

Bambang claimed its efforts to provide a higher level of comfort for passengers would bode well for the company as well. It aims to provide more “self-check-in” services at all stations. Such a service is only available at several major stations, like the Gambir Station in Jakarta.

“The process [of providing the self-check-in facilities] should be finished in two months,” he said.